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BioWare fans: Your assistance is requested!

I'm working on a lil project and need the lay of the land among my fellow deviants. Over on my dA page - [link] - I've got a couple of polls going to ask your favorite Mass Effect and Dragon Age characters of all time, and I want to know what you think. You can hop over to my page for a quick poll vote or, if you prefer, tell me what you think here (and preferably why--I've heard some of the craziest explanations!).

Baldur's Gate and NWN fans feel free to talk about those games, too, if they beat out BioWare's latest productions for you!

I'm just about the most indecisive person on the planet--I can hardly order food at a restaurant without hearing what everyone else is getting and mulling it over awhile --so believe me when I say you're doing me a huge favor in telling me what struck your fancy about each of your favorites. I appreciate your input!

I'll start, so you can see why I'm so hopeless: My most-used character was Garrus (he's the man! ), followed by grumbly Wrex when he was available, but I love Mordin's wit, Thane's air of mystery/sadness (I'm a sucker), and the way Samara's impressive cleavage contrasts with her remote personality. I also adore Alistair's humor and hints of darkness, even though he's supposed to be something of an upright, "good guy" character, Fenris's RAGE (it was pretty impressive), and all kinds of hilarious dialogue with Morrigan, Oghren, Isabella + Aveline, and Shale. As for NWN, Aribeth and her personal struggles & beliefs are what I remember best, and it was pretty amazing stuff for the time.

Devious Comments

Hm...I think Garrus is an all time admirable character..humor...loyalty...badassery? I mean c'mon how can you decline that but away from more of the popular in demand I liked Wrex. I mean...he's just big badass krogran potraying a I don't give attitude HULK SMASH type of deal you know? plus he has a way with words that make me chuckle.

As for DA, Isabella and Zev. they are just a pair of fun. A bit up the alley with pervyness and adventures but I am okay with that, although Zev is a little too friendly, perhaps because he goes both ways. As for Isabella, she's just this assertive woman who I know has a soft spot in her heart but isn't willing to show it because she got a name to live up to.

He found out I was lying to him and leading him on about the cure for the genophage and confronted me on the Citadel... We got in an argument and I shot him dead! His body fell off a walkway and the C-Sec guys ran up and were like, "What happened?!" and I basically called Wrex some crazy stranger that attacked me and forced me to defend myself. They did the equivalent of shrugging and walking away.

This was me after that happened:

Also this (and what I did to Mordin) is my punishment for playing Renegade.

Joker has got to be one my favourite characters. Although he is not able to come on missions with Shepard he still plays a huge roll on my ship. His humour is wonderful in the times of darkness the Shepard encounters on all of the end of the world missions. Not to mention I think his voice actor is wonderful.

I know Kaidan has a lot of haters but there is something about him I love. Maybe it's the fact that he puts himself down and I like that I'm able to make him more confident throughout the games. His voice actor is also fantastic all the way back to the first KOTOR as Carth.

As for DA, Alistair is my man. I like that he's shy. I like that he doesn't really want to be king and you have the ability to make him into a great leader. I also think that any boyfriend should greet me with "your desire is my command."

You make some great points. The games can get pretty dark and Joker plays a big role in alleviating that and bringing things back to balance. I like Kaidan's voice actor, too! Nice and husky. I think it would be irresponsible if I didn't pay more attention to Kaidan my next playthrough. So far he's been a sympathetic character but I never got too close--I think I usually pissed him off by being irresponsible.

Although she is far from my favourite character, and in game we barely got on well at all, Miranda always interested me. A suprisingly deep and thoughtful character and an interesting reference to the male gaze, Bioware almost acknowledged she was there for looks by having her genitically altered to beautiful and geeky.

Also Legion, without making any spoilers, became more interesting as the plot developed and made me go when he/she/they first arrived on the scene.

Yes, she was blatant eye-candy, but I suppose I can see your point about BioWare's nod to that. A pessimist might say it the "work she had done" was an excuse to put dat ass on screen rather than a thoughtful acknowledgement, but I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Agreed! Legion's state/story is definitely a fun break from the typical.

Seeing as BioWare are quite conscious about how they present gender and relationships I would like to think this was the case. They supported Naughty Dogs recent campaign to keep the female character on the front of The Last of Us game covers, along with the alternative cover for the new Bioshock - yeah the sleeve is reversable but it is better than nothing. Am I rambling on about nonsense? Yes. Sorry. Point is I too will give them the benefit of the doubt.

Aw you didn't like gruff Zaeed? I wish they could afford to spend a little more time/work on their expansion characters to make them as fleshed-out as the companions included in the main games. I'm glad to see another fan of Jack--she seems under-represented in some of the places I've looked.

I left out more than a few options, sadly! The maximum allowed for these polls is 10, or I'd have had Flemmeth/the Arishok/Dog for sure. I'm more surprised to see Hawke's siblings (they weren't super likable for me) and Loghain, though I guess I never really both acquired and used him in my games.

Well, let me put it shortly. I was disappointed I couldn't leave him behind during his loyalty mission because I didn't have enough paragon points. Jack however deserves far more credit. Hell, with the Wii U being more powerful and still allowing for motion controls, I see a spin-off game in there begging to be a reality.

What I liked about Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 was that the NPC companions really reacted to your deeds and to each other. When you had a good group and lost too much reputation, they started complaining, might even leave and/or attack you. One or the other NPC couldn't stand each other and when you had them in your group at the same time, they were arguing all the time. This gave them such a real feel.

NWN 1 HotU was a bit short, but I really liked Valen. Finally, a romance option for females who was not a knight, but chaotic good.

By the way, groups of fans recently realized new mods for BG2 (I heard of a Haer'Dalis mod) as well as for HotU (a Valen flirtpack).

DaO I started once, but I didn't like the controls. It also was way too easy at the beginning, then the difficulty level suddenly jumped up a lot when you had to beat the first "mini boss". I got bored before I even met Alistair or Zevran, but from what I've heard I guess that I would have preferred Zevran. Everything else I only know from fan art and following discussions.Mass Effect probably is not my thing, because I prefer fantasy characters to aliens.

If you aren't registered there already, you might want to check www.petalsandthorns.com It's a forum for female gamers and you'll find lots of Bioware fans there.

I loved that about BG. The first time I played, I thought it was just a neat little extra. Something to fill the time while walking or whatever. Boy was I wrong. One time I left my group waiting outside a building while I went inside to rob the place. I've barely started my looting when I'm getting cut-scened outside. A couple characters in my group get into this massive argument, the others start taking sides, and then they start fighting.

Just sat there, staring at my computer, thinking 'Did that just fucking happen?'

That's a little detail about Baldur's Gate that I'd forgotten over the years. The ability for supporting characters to "stick to their guns" to the point of turning on you on principle has died out a little in modern games (for reason I think are credible); it's not something you really realize you're missing until someone points it out. Of course, back then I had a lot less "RP conviction" and usually caved if someone started getting upset with me so I wouldn't lose anyone. How fun it would be to play again and be authentic to my own character?

I can't believe folks are still working on NWN/BG projects! Now I have to weigh the enjoyment gained vs time lost of replaying both series... and that's a lot of time lost, lol.

I used to feel the same way about Mass Effect--I played NWN and BG back in the day and "stuck to my roots" with Dragon Age. It was a different format for me but I got sucked in (as usual) by the characters and "freedom" offered, and got used to it pretty quickly. I didn't even consider trying Mass Effect for years because I usually dislike Sci Fi (I think I've been over-exposed by friends and family, haha), but my goodness I'm glad I did. It's easy to point out the flaws of both series, but both have left me very satisfied and I've replayed them more than any other game/series ever. I can agree, however, that they aren't for everyone.

I'll check out that forum. Sounds like just my kind of community. Thanks for the thoughtful comment and the referral!

It's good for... checking out that forum you told me about! It looks great, except oh my goodness, all the forums are sub-divided to death! Now, I'm a HUGE fan of organization (especially with files on my computer... endless branching rabbithole system there), but it makes it hard to get a nice general discussion going when the same topic might be under discussion in 4 different forums at once, you know? It's so daunting!

Not that I have room to criticize--I've never run a forum of that scale!--but that's just a quick first impression. I'm gonna do my best to spend some time, regardless, because the community looks quality and we've all got so much in common.